1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for selecting component parts and a staking press equipped with that apparatus, and more specifically to an apparatus for selecting component parts such as nuts and bolts, and to a staking press equipped with that apparatus, the staking press being for installing component parts in a workpiece such as a sheet metal by staking operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There exists a well known staking press for installing component parts, such as nuts and bolts, in a workpiece, such as a sheet metal, by staking operations. In this case, a nut, for example, is first inserted into a prepared insertion hole (hereinafter referred simply to as insertion hole) formed in a sheet metal, and then the nut is embedded into the sheet metal by pressing the nut deep into the insertion hole of the sheet metal and causing plastic flow at the joint.
In more detail, as shown in FIG. 1A, first an insertion hole (mounting hole) h having a diameter corresponding to the size of an insertion shank i of a nut (component part) N is pierced in a sheet metal W. Then, the sheet metal W is mounted on an anvil A, the shank i of the nut N is inserted into the insertion hole h and the nut N is pressed deep into the insertion hole h by lowering a punch P to cause plastic flow of the metal around a knurled section of the shank i of the nut N, as shown in FIG. 1B.
In the above-mentioned staking process, when a plurality of component parts are to be installed in the sheet metal, a component part suitable for each insertion hole must be correctly selected from a plurality of component parts. However, this selection process has so far been carried out in dependence upon human labor. As a result, there exists problems of low work efficiency and, in addition, erroneous selection of component parts inevitably occurs, so that defective products have often been produced. In particular, although the diameter of the shank of the bolts or nuts is the same, when the sizes or other dimensions (the models or sorts) of the bolts or nuts are different from each other, the problem of possible erroneous component parts selection increases.